Welcome to the AC Tropical Fish aquarium forum. Our aquarium forum is the place to discuss any aquarium related issue in a friendly environment. Our aquarium forum welcomes aquarists of all levels from beginners to experts. Please ask a question in the how to section of our forum or read the FAQ section if you have any questions. register to and become a part of our friendly aquarium forum community today.

Large tank and multiple focal points - tips on perspective?

0

Hey everyone,
After being on here for about 18 months and learning a lot with my current set up, I just made the upgrade from 55 to 150 gallons. I sold all of the "Philly" themed decor and am opting for low light low tech planted discus tank. I've been messing with the driftwood and rocks for like 2 weeks now and have read up on several aquascaping theories. My goal is to keep it simple (as I understand having discus will be challenging already) so no CO2, limited chemicals (I already planted eco-complete under substrate), and no high maintenance plants. I have double bright Marineland LED lights now and will be upgrading with Nick at BuildMyLED as soon as the parts come in. I'm running two FX5 and have sand substrate.

My questions:
1. How many "focal" points should you have on a tank this large? 150 gallon is 72" wide. I'm having trouble arranging the right side of my tank. I like terraces I built in the following layout:http://imgur.com/a/qyMCn#2
and think if I keep as is, it would look best to have the right side completely open. Thoughts? I'm considering rearranging the wood around to create a main focal point in the center almost like a path (see link here for inspiration: http://www.aquascapingworld.com/imag...0river%202.jpg)

72inch wide.. that's about 180 in cm. You could do, 2 maybe even 3 focal points. How exactly depends on what you want. If you got a terrace area on the left you could balance that out with something else on the right. Read up on rule of thirds, it helps with this.

The link to the terrace tank.. to me that look slike a bunch of parts scattered. There's nothing to bring the areas together and the placement doesn't feel natural.

Exactly - I like the terrace idea but cant seem to get the right side to look good. I did some research on the thirds and came up with the terrace idea taking up 2/3 (which would mean the last 1/3 should be open). I would take out the wood from far right and probably petrified wood too. Do you suggestion on how to bring it all together?

Part of challenge is to get it balanced without adding more stuff so discus have room to swim and easier maintenance

1. The first block of wood looks positioned.
2. Sand never really keeps that shape for long.

Using a paintbrush helps to brush sand against decor in a natural way. Your distracting from your hardscape elements by placing a lot of plants in front of them. If you want to soften the outlines with plants balance that out with plants in the background as well. On the right there's a block of stone suddenly which seems to sit on top of the sand.

I think matters would improve if you take the first three pieces of wood and create a line that goes towards the back. The tree can be used in the right 1/3 of the tank to create some balance.

Alternatively, keep it on the terrace but move it backwards. Move that left block more towards the left window and a bit more to the front. Take the second and 3rd pieces, the ones lying in the sand and get those in a line receding towards the back. Difficult this. How about a full frontal of the tank?

1. The first block of wood looks positioned.
2. Sand never really keeps that shape for long.

Using a paintbrush helps to brush sand against decor in a natural way. Your distracting from your hardscape elements by placing a lot of plants in front of them. If you want to soften the outlines with plants balance that out with plants in the background as well. On the right there's a block of stone suddenly which seems to sit on top of the sand.

I think matters would improve if you take the first three pieces of wood and create a line that goes towards the back. The tree can be used in the right 1/3 of the tank to create some balance.

Alternatively, keep it on the terrace but move it backwards. Move that left block more towards the left window and a bit more to the front. Take the second and 3rd pieces, the ones lying in the sand and get those in a line receding towards the back. Difficult this. How about a full frontal of the tank?

The planting looks haphazard and too low density.

No no, I'm really interested in hearing what other more experienced hobbyists think. I added the picture from last night (I changed it a bit since the pics were taken in this post). I like the idea of making the driftwood "straight" and had it like that originally. The tank is 18" deep so I can't get it fully straight without a slight angle. Does it make sense to position all wood to the same focal point? Kinda like they taught in art class...http://imgur.com/a/qyMCn

I agree that the plants seem kinda random, depends on the look you are going for though. I like the idea of the "tree on the right, I personally think the slope is too high if you plan to have discuss. I feel like the discuss would never be on the left side of the tank with it set up like that.

I think a discuss tank should focus more on the fish, maybe remove large driftwood on right, put tree on right laying down, so that branches go towards back of the tank, use the other pieces as laying on the substrate.

My thoughts are, make it look like the driftwood on far left is a tree trunk, with pieces of the tree having fallen off and sunk into the sand. Plant the tall grass along back wall with a few smaller plants spread in the middle

Sometimes, you just have to set it up and see what your think. If you don't like it, change it. I had planned out the exact look of a 90 gallon tank once with drawings and everything. About a week latter I started changing little things that I did not like. Before long the tank looked completely different from the plan, but I really liked it. Now I just put it all together and change thing around a little until I like the look. To me that's all apart of the fun of the hobby.

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]